American Cinematographer - November 2017 - 66

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Polish Hospitality

Ed Lachman, ASC accepts the Golden Frog for his work on Carol, as AC editor-in-chief and
publisher Stephen Pizzello (far left) grabs a photo.

knew through email. The parties are a
great way to get to know people. You
know someone by emailing for 10 years,
or through reputation, but now you can
buy them a drink, like old friends.
John Seale, ASC, ACS (Lifetime
Achievement Award, 2011): There are
so many wonderful European cameramen whom I admire so much, and to be
able to sit and talk and have a drink with
them was so exciting. That's the most
exciting thing, I think: to be able to mix
and mingle with other cinematographers. You are all cinematographers, and
you are all equal.
Frederick
Elmes,
ASC
(Cinematographer-Director
Duo
Award, shared with David Lynch,
2000): It scared me before I went,
because I only speak English. But when
I got there, communication was so
natural because you're with other cinematographers and people who love cinematography. It's something we all relate
to. We're all comrades; we're all there
because we love visualizing things, and
the fact is we have a common visual
language that helps us communicate.
With the addition of a bunch of gesturing with your arms, you really can share
ideas about film language. It's a beautiful
thing where you find you don't really
even need the words.
Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC
66

November 2017

(Lifetime Achievement Award, 2009):
Camerimage is like a distillation of
whatever is really wonderful in our
profession. You meet all these colleagues
of yours whom you admire as people and

as professionals. And this meeting is
without any stress and has a lot of
cultural depth. It is about friendship and
admiration. You meet friends amongst
the people who make the technology,
and it's wonderful to see them there
because you aren't talking about work.
You are away from the stress.
Marek Zebrowski (Camerimage
festival executive): That's Marek
[Zydowicz]'s idea: get people to be with
each other, to swap stories, to interact.
Let's be social. Let's not only transact
business. Just like that motto from
Howards End: 'Only connect.' Only
connect; the rest takes care of itself.
That's how this world gets better. That's
the success of this festival.
Fraser: When I was there in
2014, Ed Lachman [ASC] was there. I
had met him before, but I had not
gotten to know him well. To meet
heroes like Ed, guys you don't get to see
every day - to meet and have a drink
➣
and talk, that was fantastic.

Dick Pope, BSC
"In 1993 I was invited to the very first Camerimage in Toru´
n, as Naked had
been chosen to be screened, but not in competition. Along with other guests, I was
picked up at the Warsaw airport, and we all crammed into an old minibus - I
remember the heater not working. We embarked on a marathon five-hour journey
through heavy snow. I did wonder what I had gotten myself into.
"There was a huge student presence, and Naked played to a packed auditorium. Many of the audience were wearing headphones because, in those days, interpreters sat in sound booths giving live Polish translation. The film is a pretty serious
affair, but sporadically during the screening the audience kept breaking into laughter. I thought they must hate the film, and were finding it hysterical for all the wrong
reasons. But when it ended, the positive response was overwhelming; they'd loved it.
"Confused, I later asked some students why they had reacted to certain scenes
in the film with such amusement, only to be told that the mirth had been directed
at the young English-to-Polish interpreter, who had been audibly squirming in the
sound booth, unable to utter the Polish equivalent of certain truly profane English
words that are spoken in the film.
"At the closing ceremony, a group of film students stormed the stage, took the
microphone, and said they wanted to award their own best-film prize - and to my
utter amazement, they announced my name for Naked. The prize was a beautiful
stained-glass panel that featured a rosebud, an homage to Citizen Kane. It remains
one of my most treasured possessions. One of the students who took to the stage
was Hoyte van Hoytema [now ASC, FSF, NSC]. The entire experience empowered
me with so much confidence. It changed my life."
Pope received the Golden Frog in 1996, for Secrets & Lies; the DirectorCinematographer Duo Award in 1999, shared with Mike Leigh; the Golden Frog in
2004, for Vera Drake; and the Silver Frog in 2006, for The Illusionist.
American Cinematographer

American Cinematographer - November 2017

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